System and method for zero voltage switching and switch capacator modulation

ABSTRACT

A direct current driver circuit for driving a modulated direct current is disclosed. The direct current driver circuit uses a switched capacitor network to keep the circuit operating within carefully prescribed voltage levels in order to reduce energy losses.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/267,852 filed Dec. 15, 2015, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to the field of electronic circuits for drivingmodulated direct current particular, but not by way of limitation, thediscussion discloses techniques for modulating direct current with zerovoltage switching and switched capacitor modulation.

BACKGROUND

Direct current (DC) loops are a type of electronic circuitry thatprovides certain advantages for many applications. Most digitalelectronic circuits operate with direct current circuits. With amodulated direct current loop, many independent individual directcurrent circuits can be supported. However, the field of electroniccircuitry for generating modulated direct current loops is ratherlimited. Thus, it would be desirable to develop new and improvedelectronic circuitry for generating modulated direct current loops.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsdescribe substantially similar components throughout the several views.Like numerals having different letter suffixes represent differentinstances of substantially similar components. The drawings illustrategenerally, by way of example, but not by way of lip various embodimentsdiscussed in the present document.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theexample form of a computer system within which a set of instructions,for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the overall architecture of asingle-wire multiple-node direct current loop control system.

FIG. 3 illustrates a timing diagram that shows show digital informationmay be modulated as current deviations from a nominal current value.

FIG. 4 illustrates a direct current driver circuit that may include aswitched capacitor network.

FIG. 5A illustrates a first embodiment of a switched capacitor network.

FIG. 5B illustrates a second embodiment of a switched capacitor network.

FIG. 5C illustrates a first embodiment of a switched capacitor network.

FIG. 6 illustrates a direct current driver circuit that includes aswitched capacitor network to manage voltage levels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description includes references to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description.The drawings show illustrations in accordance with example embodiments.These embodiments, which are also referred to herein as “examples,” aredescribed in enough detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat specific details in the example embodiments are not required inorder to practice the present invention. For example, although theexample embodiments are mainly disclosed with reference to a system atefficiently transmits energy and control information to control LightEmitting Diodes (LEDs), the teachings of this disclosure can be used inany current loop circuit system. The example embodiments may becombined, other embodiments may be utilized, or structural, logical andelectrical changes may be made without departing from the scope what isclaimed. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to betaken in a limiting sense, and the scope is defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term“or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that “A or B” includes“A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unless otherwise indicated.Furthermore, all publications, patents, and patent documents referred toin this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety,as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event ofinconsistent usages between this document and those documents soincorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s)should be considered supplementary to that of this document; forirreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

Computer Systems

The present disclosure concerns computer systems since computer systemsare generally used to control LED lighting and display systems. FIG. 1illustrates diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example formof a computer system 100 that may be used to implement portions of thepresent disclosure. Within computer system 100 there are a set ofinstructions 124 that may be executed for causing the machine to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server machineor a client machine in client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a webappliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable ofexecuting a set of computer instructions (sequential or otherwise) thatspecify actions to be taken by that machine. Furthermore, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 100 includes a processor 102 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 104 and a static memory 106, which communicate witheach other via a bus 108. The computer system 100 may further include avideo display adapter 110 that drives a video display system 115 such asa Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The computersystem 100 also includes an alphanumeric input device 112 (e.g., akeyboard), a cursor control device 114 (e.g., a mouse or trackball), adisk drive unit 116, an output signal generation device 118, and anetwork interface device 120.

The disk drive unit 116 includes a machine-readable medium 122 on whichis stored one or more sets of computer instructions and data structures(e.g., instructions 124 also known as ‘software’) embodying or utilizedby any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein.The instructions 124 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 104 and/or within the processor 102 duringexecution thereof by the computer system 100, the main memory 104 andthe processor 102 also constituting machine-readable media. Note thatthe example computer system 100 illustrates only one possible exampleand that other computers may not have all of the components illustratedin FIG. 1.

The instructions 124 may further be transmitted or received over acomputer network 126 via the network interface device 120. Suchtransmissions may occur utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols such as the File Transport Protocol (FTP).

While the machine-readable medium 122 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein, or that is capable of storing, encodingor carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such a set ofinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly betaken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, opticalmedia, and magnetic media.

For the purposes of this specification, the term “module” includes anidentifiable portion of code, computational or executable instructions,data, or computational object to achieve a particular function,operation, processing, or procedure. A module need not be implemented insoftware; a module may be implemented in software, hardware/circuitry,or a combination of software and hardware.

In the present disclosure, a computer system may comprise a very smallmicrocontroller system. A microcontroller may comprise a singleintegrated circuit that contains the four main components that create acomputer system: an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), a control unit, amemory system, and an input and output system (collectively termed I/O).

Microcontrollers are very small and inexpensive integrated circuits thatare very often used in digital electronic devices.

Multiple-Node Power and Control System Overview

To power and control multiple circuit nodes, a single-wire directcurrent loop control system may be used. Specifically, individuallycircuit nodes are arranged in a series configuration that is driven by ahead-end control unit located at the head of the series. The series ofseparate individually controlled circuit nodes may be referred to as a“line” or “string” of nodes devices. The head-end control unit for thestring of nodes may be referred to as the “line driver” or “stringdriver” since the head-end control unit provides the electrical powerand control signals that drive all of the individually controlledcircuit nodes on the line or string.

Although the present disclosure will be disclosed with circuit nodes fordriving Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), the teachings of the presentdisclosure may be used to control circuit nodes driving any other typeof electronic circuits such as sound systems, motors, sensors, cameras,Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), etc.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the overall architecture of thesingle-wire direct current loop control system that drives severalcircuit node units (250-1 to 250-N).

Specifically, a line driver circuit 220 is situated at the head of aseries of individually controlled circuit node units (250-1 to 250-N).In the particular embodiment of FIG. 2, each of the individuallycontrolled circuit node units (250-1 to 250-N) are used to drive LightEmitting Diodes (LEDs). Since this specific application is for drivingLEDs, the line driver circuit 220 is referred to as the LED line drivercircuit 220. But as stated earlier, the line driver circuit 220 can beused to drive any other type of electrical circuit.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the LED line driver circuit 220 receiveselectrical power from an external power supply circuit 210. The LED linedriver circuit 220 also receives LED control data from a master LEDcontroller system 230. The master LED controller system 230 providesdetailed control data describing how the various LEDs on theindividually controlled LED units (250-1 to 250-N) on the string shouldbe powered on or off and the brightness of each powered on LED. Themaster LED controller system 230 can be any type of digital electronicsystem that provides LED control data the appropriate format to the LEDline driver circuit 220.

The master LED controller system 230 may range from a simple single chipmicrocontroller to a sophisticated computer system that drives manydifferent LED strings in a coordinated manner. For example, in arelatively simple embodiment, the nit components of amicrocontroller-implemented master LED controller system 230, the powersupply 210, and the LED line driver 220 may be combined into a singlesmall LED Driver System 239 that controls an entire long string of LEDunits 250. In a more sophisticated embodiment, an external computersystem, such as computer system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, can beprogrammed to output appropriate LED control data signals 231 to the LEDline driver circuit 220 using signal generation device 118 or any otherappropriate data output system.

It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. Also thatvarious presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A direct current driver circuit, said directcurrent driver circuit comprising the elements of: a first powerinductor; a second signal inductor; and a switched capacitor network.